{"id":116673,"date":"2021-02-03T12:58:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T17:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=116673"},"modified":"2021-02-03T13:28:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T18:28:12","slug":"the-best-interests-of-children-have-often-come-dead-last-watch-mcconnell-tear-into-teachers-unions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-best-interests-of-children-have-often-come-dead-last-watch-mcconnell-tear-into-teachers-unions\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Best Interests Of Children Have Often Come Dead Last\u2019: Watch McConnell Tear Into Teachers\u2019 Unions"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-best-interests-of-children-have-often-come-dead-last-watch-mcconnell-tear-into-teachers-unions%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=116673&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/mitchmcconnell-2.jpg?w=1200&amp;h=800&amp;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>On the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denounced the teachers\u2019 unions that have stalled the return of students to the classroom, stating, \u201cThe best interests of children have often come dead last.\u201d The Kentucky senator also targeted the intimate relationship teachers\u2019 unions have with the Democratic party going back decades, charging, \u201cScience is not the obstacle; federal money is not the obstacle; the obstacle is a lack of will-power. Not among students; not among parents; just among the rich, powerful unions that donate huge sums to Democrats and get a stranglehold over education in many communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis pandemic has forced Americans to confront numerous and compounding tragedies,\u201d McConnell began (video below). \u201cAlmost 450,000 Americans have been killed; millions of livelihoods have been upended, and millions of American kids, especially those who attend public school, have been robbed of an entire year and counting, of proper school. Despite the heroic efforts of students, parents and teachers, so-called \u2018remote learning\u2019 has proven a poor substitute for the real thing. Research suggests that even if the average remote learning student had gotten back in the classroom last month, they\u2019d already have missed multiple months\u2019 worth of learning compared to a normal year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cForty percent of high-schoolers in St. Paul now have failing grades; in Houston, it\u2019s 40% of all students,\u201d McConnell noted. \u201cTampa\u2019s school district has reportedly lost track of thousands of kids altogether. And this pain isn\u2019t spread equally. The worst has fallen on the most vulnerable, including lower-income households, students of color, and students with special needs and their families. The fallout isn\u2019t just academic; replacing the structure, friendships and activities of school with isolated screen time has predictably caused spikes in mental health concerns. Schools normally keep an eye on kids with challenging home lives and are too often the most reliable source of hot meals and on and on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McConnell pointed out that many parochial and private schools have successfully returned to teaching their students: \u201cWe know with certainty now that K-12 schooling cannot move online indefinitely like a white-collar workplace. It\u2019s more like routine medical procedures; something that can be postponed a few weeks in a pinch but which our society really cannot do without. And some families aren\u2019t having to. Many private and parochial schools have been in-person since the fall. Many European countries have kept kids in schools nearly the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Then he put the teachers\u2019 unions in the crosshairs: \u201cBut in places across America where public education depends on the whims of a powerful public sector union, the best interests of children have often come dead last. As the months have rolled by and the data has poured in, it\u2019s become clear that schools can open safely. Just last week, CDC researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/cdc-school-virus-spread\/2021\/01\/26\/bf949222-5fe6-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html\">affirmed<\/a>, \u2018With proper prevention efforts we can keep transmission in schools and education settings quite low.\u2019 This confirms what scientists were observing as far back as October when it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/10\/22\/health\/coronavirus-schools-children.html\">reported<\/a>, \u2018Transmission by young children to adults seems to be negligible as long as safety measures are in place.\u2019 Dr. Fauci, whose expertise was supposed to guide the Biden administration\u2019s whole approach, said last week, \u2018We can keep the children in school and get them in school safely.\u2019 That\u2019s Dr. Fauci. An administration that puts \u201cfacts and science first\u201d should be conducting a full-court press to open schools.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McConnell addressed the claim that returning student to schools was a problem of funding: \u201cFederal funding is not an obstacle; that\u2019s more goal-post moving. Congress has poured more than $110 billion into making education safe. As of last week, states and local school districts had only spent about $4 billion of the roughly $68 billion we set aside for K-12 schools. That leaves $64 billion in the pipeline already. And remember, science tells us that schools are largely made safe with simple precautions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also went after the loyalty of the unions to the Democratic party: \u201cScience is not the obstacle; federal money is not the obstacle; the obstacle is a lack of willpower. Not among students; not among parents; just among the rich, powerful unions that donate huge sums to Democrats and get a stranglehold over education in many communities. Apparently Big Labor\u2019s talking points have already displaced Dr. Fauci as the White House go-to source. The president\u2019s chief of staff keeps saying we need even more months of federal funding before teachers can go back. There\u2019s no scientific basis for that, none whatsoever. The goal-post moving doesn\u2019t stop with money; in several places these unions sought to elbow toward the front of the line for vaccinations, only to turn around and say, \u2018Thanks for the vaccinations but don\u2019t think that these will necessarily get our folks back in the classroom any time soon.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToo often local officials just roll over and submit to these tactics,\u201d he continued. \u201cIn my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, the largest school district in the state has a union-funded board of education vice chair; he\u2019s now saying that even if all school personnel get vaccines he\u2019d still be reluctant to open schools. In San Francisco, the 28-year-old Board of Education president, 28 years old, argued a few days ago that vulnerable kids aren\u2019t really missing out on learning, they\u2019re just learning different things, and it\u2019s the system\u2019s fault for not measuring all of the valuable cultural experiences they\u2019ve had while getting stuck at home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat nonsense,\u201d McConnell snapped. \u201cFamilies are losing patience, and fast. We could not function with remote police or remote firefighters or remote dental surgeons, and we\u2019d never pretend otherwise. Kids, parents, and a lot of talented teachers have given on-line learning their all. We\u2019ll be deluding ourselves if we continue to accept this failed shadow of proper schooling when all of the science, all of it, points the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He concluded, \u201cNo more goal-post moving; states and districts have got to follow the science and get American education back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/span><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em><span>member<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the Senate floor Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) denounced the teachers\u2019 unions that have stalled the return of students to the classroom, stating, \u201cThe best interests of &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1892553,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5078,4294,5082,4334,5079,5081],"class_list":["post-116673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-best","tag-children","tag-come","tag-have","tag-interests","tag-often"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1892553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}